OROVILLE — There are few sports where a team can clinch victory before the conclusion of the event.

Wrestling is one of them.

After junior Matt Gabb pinned Jake Thornton at the 3-minute, 18-second mark of the 160-pound weight class match, the Paradise High wrestling team clinched a dual meet win over Oroville on the road Wednesday night.

Following Gabb”s win, the only thing in question was the score, which Oroville trimmed pretty significantly with three straight wins to close out the dual with a 37-29 Eastern Athletic League South division loss to Paradise.

“I don”t think there was any complacency. Those guys went out to win and it”s just that they were wrestling tough kids,” said Paradise coach Dan Nelson on losing the final three matches, yet still winning the team event. “Chris Waters weighed about 154, 155 and moved up to 170s for us. I thought he tried his best, had his chance and just got caught and got pinned.”

Gabb did not get pinned; in fact, he was the aggressor from the get-go and pinned Thornton to get the Bobcats the victory.

“That was a huge match and we knew that was going to be a tough kid (because) Jake Thornton”s been around for years &amp He”s tough,” Nelson said. “I knew Matt was going to have his hands full and he pulled it out and that was huge for us.”

Another huge match was at the 132-pound weight class, where Paradise senior Blaine Shaw, who came in ranked 30th in the state according to CaliforniaWrestler.com, took on the 18th-ranked 132-pound wrestler in the state in Oroville sophomore Lake Gee. The significance stemmed from the fact that Paradise (9-3, 1-0 EAL South) had just dropped its previous two matches — Oroville”s Christian Halterman pinned Paradise freshman Eric Blood in the 120-pound match, and Oroville sophomore Michael Ripley defeated Bobcat freshman Wyatt Wyckoff in the 126-pound division.

Shaw needed to stop the bleeding, as Nelson put it, and he did via a 3-1 decision to extend Paradise”s lead in the dual meet to 25-9.

“(Blaine) did a great job (against) a tough kid who is ranked No. 1 in the section (in) Lake Gee,” Nelson said. “I thought Blaine wrestled tough and I was really proud of him.”

Oroville didn”t quit, as it won five of the next seven matches, including the final three at the 170-, 182- and 195-pound weight classes to tie Paradise in total wins with seven.

“Just keeping wrestling strong,” Oroville coach Jimmy Ripley said on the team”s mindset at the end of the dual. “We weren”t even keeping that close of an eye on the score to begin with. Our 160-pounder, (it”s his) first week back so we”ve got a lot to prove with him. &amp He”ll be a top-six kid in the section.”

That means Thornton, Oroville”s 160-pound wrestler who lost the most significant match of the dual Wednesday, might get another chance at Gabb later this season.